Happily Matched

In our last post we said that Saabrina was well polished and we weren't joking. As you can see from our next photo, which is a close up of us all with her, we were able to use the bonnet as a very effective mirror to check our wedding appearances.


It was nice to have this time together relaxing and chatting before the wedding got properly underway. Us Norfolk Branch bears knew that, come the afternoon, Moose and his friends would be very busy in their groom support roles, and unable to spend much time talking with us, so we made the most of the moment. We would have lingered longer if it wasn't for the wind which kept blowing the smaller bears off the bonnet.

All too soon it was time to make our way to the Church. As our minder was the officiating minister, we were there early which meant we could choose a seat which would give us a good view, very important when you're the size we are. Here we are reading the order of service, especially the rather nice piece at the start which explained what marriage was all about.


After the bride arrived we waited to find out what would be the music for the wedding march. We were rather surprised when we heard, what initially sounded like interference, coming from the speakers. We were even more surprised when we noticed that the bride had started coming up the aisle to it. All of a sudden the sound developed into some wonderful African drumming music. How unique we thought, and also how appropriate, as the bride had worked in Africa for 7 years.

After the happy couple were well and truly married, we enjoyed some mulled wine while photos were taken, then it was off to the reception. We thought our Uncle Tim gave the most romantic speech we had ever heard and gave him lots of applause at the end. After the speeches we had a great time taking to the floor for a spirited barn dance. Sadly we couldn't stay to the end as we had to drive back to Norfolk.

Lots of love from the wedding party xxx

The Morning of the Wedding

As the wedding wasn't until after lunch, and we hadn't been allocated any wedding morning duties (yes it was a very well organised wedding), we thought we'd have a bit of a lie in, but in the end, the temptation of seeing what was on offer at the Holiday Inn Express buffet breakfast proved too much, and down we all went.

We were pleased to find cellophane wrapped muffins, which made them perfect for sneaking away for a mid morning snack (don't tell anyone though!).


Our picture of Yorkie and myself (George), with our muffins, should explain why we needed a mid morning snack. We were a short drive from Epping Forest and we had a free morning, so what better way to spend the time than doing some research for The Friendly Planet Guide.

We enjoyed our stroll through Epping Forest, and because the paths are so well marked, it is a good place to go if you are just passing through the area and, like us, haven't got a map. From all the activity we saw, it is also a good place for running, cycling and horse riding, as we shall report in the Friendly Planet Guide.

When we got back to the hotel we were just in time to help our Uncle Tim decorate his car, Saabrina (being a Saab), which is his pride and joy. As it was the groom's car not the bride's car, there were no bonnet ribbons, but some very tasteful bows on the doors.


We were particularly proud of the bow on the rear windscreen wiper which we thought of. It takes a spark of bear genius to think up a decoration like that. Saabrina really was looking very best, and we could see that her car bears had put a lot of time and effort into cleaning and polishing.

More to come, so keep reading.

Lots of love from the wedding party xxx

Wedding Bells

The weekend after Christmas was a rather special one for us. We travelled down to London for the wedding of our Uncle Tim who is a good friend of Bears Unlimited and the minder of some of our good friends including Moose, Boulder and Grommit. They all came to visit us in February and you may remember our outing of the time (Visitors welcome) and also, more recently, Moose’s email to us all the way from Taiwan (an email for Bris).

As we were going to a wedding it was natural that the 2 sets of Bears Unlimited newly weds would want to attend so look out for them in our pictures.

Our own minder was conducting the wedding service, so we arrived on the Friday afternoon in time for the wedding rehearsal. While the wedding party were busy with the rehearsal, us bears were free to chat to Moose and to look round the church which was very big and fine – much bigger than the Norfolk village churches we are used to.


We took a closer look at a large nativity scene, set up at the back of the church. It was all protected by a sort of plastic curtain which is why our photo is not as clear as it might be. The figures and animals were very life-like and we soon felt as if we really were part of the scene, rather than outsiders.

We also took a closer look at the flowers which were perfect in their joint role of wedding and Christmas flowers. The wedding bears though they were very romantic.


After the rehearsal we went to the hall where the reception would be held and helped decorate the tables with leaves and other things that drop off trees. We all felt very artistic. Then we settled down to enjoy some pizzas and a few beers with Tim. It was great to see him again and he was clearly very excited about his wedding. We were also very excited and pleased for him as he is one of our favourite non bear friends.

We’ll report on the wedding day itself in our next post.

Lots of love, all at Bears Unlimited xxx

A New Image for the New Year

We like our blog very much and secretly think it's rather good. However, there's one thing about it that has been nagging away at the back of our minds as being not quite right.

The problem is the photo of the Board members, which is linked to our profile and appears at the top of the blog. While we really like the photo, the problem with it, is that members of the 3 Bears Unlimited branches are not equally represented.

This is where we have to confess that the picture was taken a couple of Christmasses ago, after the Suffolk branch had been and gone. Most of the fine bears you see, are therefore, members of the Norfolk and Midlands branches. That's definitely not because there are no fine bears in the Suffolk branch - they're all the epitome of fine bears - it just reflects when the camera was to hand and we were in photographic mood.

Anyway, we made a conscious effort this year, at our three branch Christmas gathering, to commission a new team photo. We're revealing it to the world for the first time tonight so we hope you like it, and most importantly that the Suffolk and Midlands branches like it.


When we have the right technical expertise to hand we'll be updating our profile so you see this picture everytime you go into our blog.

In the meantime, we'd like to wish Uncle G of the Midlands branch a successful operation tomorrow and a speedy recovery.

Lots of love, all at Bears Unlimited xxx

Boys with Big Toys

Oh dear, no-one's had a guess of what was in our lunchbox! We were only joking when we said it was hard. Either we scared you off saying that, or, perish the thought, no-one is reading our blog! Hope it's not the latter!

Anyway, what we had in our lunchbox were delicious turkey sandwiches. Just like sprouts, we can't get enough turkey, so turkey leftovers are a definite treat. We varied our turkey sandwiches by the addition of cranberry sauce in some, and Aunt Jessie's famous marrow chutney (remember Oakley making it recently with Tommy's marrows?) in others. Both sorts were wolfed down happily by hungry bears.

The Midland branch had saved up a real treat for the after lunch stretch of the walk. One minute we were walking down a muddy lane keeping a wary eye on the bull that we had to walk past, the next we were looking at something rather special.


Chelmer took off like a bolt of lightning when he saw this marvellous armoured vehicle, as he couldn't wait to see if he could start it up. Unfortunately, Chief Mechanic Blue Bear wasn't with us at this point, as he was still at the canal in Braunston talking diesel engines with a canal boat owner. Without his expertise, this tank was going no-where and was stuck fast in the mud. Still, we had a great time pretend driving with lots of war-like sound effects.


Chelmer was a little disappointed at the lack of guns until our minder pointed out that it was an armoured personnel carrier rather than a tank. That didn't stop Chelmer telling every he'd been tank driving when he got home, as he thought it sounded more adventurous than driving an APC.

Thanks Midlands Branch for arranging a walk with some much variety and a great surprise.

Lot of love, all at Bears Unlimited xxx

Out and About on Boxing Day

We hope we're not about to confuse you but, after reporting on our New Year activities, we're now going back in time to Boxing Day.

We're never too bothered about the weather on Christmas Day as it's essentially an indoor day. However, we always hope for fine weather on Boxing Day, so we can get out for a traditional Boxing Day walk.

On this occasion when we stuck our noses outside after getting up, we sniffed some mild and dry air and knew we were in for a good walk. As we were in the Midlands, the Midlands branch were our guides. They know our likes very well and included a walk along the canal, taking in the Braunston Locks, that we'd boated through last Easter, at the start of the walk.


We rather liked this diddy, working boat and thought it's name 'mouse' rather appropriate. We wondered whether we should take it with us on future canal holidays so we could dig ourselves out if we ended up 'on the putty'.

After leaving the canal we headed across some fields, and when we came across some sprout plants we realised the Midlands branch's motive for taking us this route. Being sprout lovers, we'd eaten so many on Christmas Day that supplies had run out and we needed to pick some to replenish stocks for our Boxing Day meal.


As you can see from our picture we were blessed by blue skies and mild weather. There were a couple of moments when we even needed our sunglasses.

Thanks to this fine weather we were even able to enjoy a picnic in the open air. We've got a really challenging 'What's in My Lunchbox' picture for you to guess what we were about to tuck in to!


In fact we're going to be really cruel and leave you in suspense and not tell you the answer until we next post.

We bet you'll never guess.

Lots of love, all at Bears Unlimited xxx

Happy New Year!

A Happy New Year to all our readers. We hope your New Year has got off to as good a start as ours.

We enjoyed an Indian meal, and saw in the New Year in Suffolk, with Suffolk branch members and today, we've been out on the River Deben in our open canoe with canoe club friends. Some of you may remember our 'up the creek with a paddle' post from last year when we did the same thing.

We're now safely back home and once again admiring all the Christmas cards we have been very lucky to receive.

We thought we'd share our favourite 2 with you.


We received this card from Fred's Mum who, as you will know, is one of our regular correspondents. We just love it, and we think it is an excellent advertisement for the value of having a bear (or two) in the family. After all, who would want a gift of gold when you could have bear instead? We also think this bear looks a lot like Ungi. Perhaps he has been too modest to tell us that he modelled for the picture.

We also smiled a lot when we opened this card.


It really appealed to our bear sense of humour.

If, like us, you're going back to work tomorrow, we hope you have a stress free day.

Lots of love, all at Bears Unlimited xxx